Samsung Ativ Book 9
Two years ago, Samsung’s Series 9 represented a sea change. It was one of the lightest, thinnest, best-looking laptops ever made, and Samsung made it powerful too. It was the first ultrabook to be both really beautiful and really good, to prove that Apple hadn’t discovered and hidden some magical formula. But it was also riddled with first-generation problems and a massive price tag. Still, it proved something, and the entire industry took notice.
At 0.54 inches thick, the Ativ Book 9 Plus is almost exactly as tall as its two USB ports. The aluminum body weighs only 3.06 pounds, but it feels sturdy and well-made. For some reason, I find myself frequently carrying my laptop by its hinge, or its palmrest, or with my thumb in the space between base and lid. No matter how I pick it up, toss it around, or carry it in my bag, all the Book 9 Plus ever accrues is small, easily removable scuffs on the lid. The Series 9 used to be fragile and precious, but this Ativ is ready for action.
Samsung has a checkered past building keyboards and trackpads, but it’s clearly learning as it goes — it has two years of experience on this chassis, and it shows. The Book 9 Plus’s keys are still a bit shallow and harsh, with a hard bottom at the end of every keystroke, but the experience has improved immensely over last year’s model. I picked up the Book 9 Plus and was typing at full speed in no time. The aqua backlight is even and almost beautiful. It's much cooler and easier on the eyes than the stark, white Apple light. I still don’t like the differently colored function keys, though at least there are plenty of them, and I really don’t like that they’re the secondary functions on their keys. Samsung’s Fn Lock button is a nice idea, flipping the controls so F3 actually changes the brightness — but that turns the Up key permanently into PgUp, which is a recipe for disaster. But still, I can’t live without a good keyboard, and the Book 9 Plus has a very good one.
he base, $1,399.99 Ativ Book 9 Plus comes with Windows 8.1, plus Intel’s latest Haswell processor (a Core i5, clocked at 1.6GHz), 4GB of RAM, a 128GB hard drive, and Intel’s integrated graphics. Most specs can be upgraded (though it gets expensive in a hurry) but even in this iteration, it’s pretty powerful. It boots in only a few seconds, and resumes instantly from sleep.
comparision beteween mac and samsung ativ plus
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